Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 15, 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Sept 15, 2022 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**The season's interesting caterpillars just keep on coming!

John Inman got nice photographs of a Banded Tussock Moth and an American Dagger Moth caterpillar with some features to suggest it may be in the tussock moth group which it is not.

John also advises that the Great Egret is still in the waterside area.

Shannon Inman noted a Double-crested Cormorant that had become entangled in fishing line to show the devastating results that can result from an unremoved fishing line. Some watershed groups have placed receptacles near popular fishing sites for fishing lines to be disposed of safely to prevent such accidents.

**Yolande LeBlanc’s Memramcook carrot patch continues to attract interesting patrons: two Black Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillars that looked very similar, but one was notably darker than the other. We are assuming this is variability within the species with the possibility of a Short-tailed Black Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar, a remote possibility in the Memramcook area; however, only the caterpillar knows for sure!

Two more non-carrot specialists joined the entourage which needed a consultation with Jim Edsall. Jim felt one to be the Hitched Arches Moth Caterpillar (Melanchra adjuncta) and the other to be the Yellow Bear Caterpillar, the larval stage of the Virginian Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica).

**Brian Stone is visiting his sister in Upham, N.B., and sends a batch of photos documenting a wide range of critters. His best capture is a photo collection of some of the 40 plus Turkey Vultures he saw at the Hampton lagoons early on Tuesday morning. They were perched along the chain fences surrounding the lagoons and include some of the new youngsters not quite in adult plumage yet.

(Richard Blaquiere was consulted on some of these photos and would agree that Brian's photos of the grey-headed birds with the dark bills are young of the year. By next spring the faces of these young birds will have taken on the typical vulture-red colour making it impossible to tell them apart from older birds at any distance. But a close examination of the feathering on the head and, to some extent, the amount of darkness on the bill can give some clues to age beyond the recently fledged birds with the dark heads.)

The lagoons were also hosting a large group of Wood Ducks in various stages of plumage. There were many other varieties of ducks present, such as American Wigeons, and Mallards in large numbers but many were a bit too far for binocular identification.

Brian also got an Osprey and a Great Blue Heron at the lagoons along with a poorly plumaged Northern Pintail and Northern Cardinal. A Saltmarsh Caterpillar crossed the path in front of Brian and a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper perched on a lagoon pipe alongside the ducks. In the early morning fog, the Sun was dimmed enough to let Brian use his LCD screen to get a photograph that shows some of the larger Sunspots present on its face. (Always use the LCD screen when photographing the Sun and never use the viewfinder due to the risk of permanent eye damage.)

Back at Carol's (Brian's sister's) place in Upham he noticed a line of huge female Barn Spiders along the rain gutters that were more plump than he ever remembers seeing them. He brought one down to ground level to get some close-up images and then returned it to finish its seasonal activities. He also got some photos of a small Sheetweb Spider in a small bush beside the house that resembles the European Sheetweb Spider Linyphia triangularis but he is awaiting confirmation of its proper ID. BugGuide has only one report of this spider in Canada, and it was nearby at Rothsay. Whether it is common but just unreported Brian does not know.

Brian also got some other Orb Weaver Spiders at the house and an American Toad and a Red-backed Salamander which both came out during an evening rain shower. A female Shadow Darner Dragonfly was noticed patrolling the area around the house and Brian saw it fly through one of the Orb Weaver Spider's webs and get a bit tangled up. It went through some acrobatic gyrations for about 15 minutes and then finally got clear enough of the web to fly off over the house.

Nature Moncton

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